All Consuming Friendship
by Ol'Velsper
Summary: "You are what you eat," Yuuno felt a shiver run down his spine as Nanoha served herself. The remaining eye-stalk of a crustacean-like beast glared at the boy with a vague accusatory air. "Have some Envenomed Pierce. Maybe you'll stop looking so yummy if you stop being bite-sized." Nanoha's stomach grumbled on cue; Yuuno's heart quavered in mortal fear for the third time that day.
1. Chapter 1

01/The Terrible Color of Earth

From the darkness there was light.

Energy swelled out of the rip in space/time as a small shuttle flew out from within the Dimensional Sea and back into reality. Measuring thirty feet from the tip of its nose to the back of the thrusters that were carrying it through the void of space, the ship was urgently scanning its surroundings.

Within the cockpit of the ship, its sole occupant miserably gripped himself.

"No...it really was true." The pilot, a blond haired boy miserably observed the results. "How'd you let yourselves die from something like this?"

Trace elements of metals were registering around the orbit of the moon hovering a nearby planet. The pilot winced and brought his shuttle in closer. Both his mood and expression fell as the wreckage of a ship appeared before him.

According to his sensors, nothing was alive in there.

"I'm sorry..." Yuuno Scrya softly muttered, hanging his head.

The shuttle silently moved closer towards the ship. Seeing no sign of life signs or escape pods, Yuuno activated the sensors on the ship. Twin beams of green light swept up and down the tattered remains of the ship.

Pieces of metal from the destroyed vessel lightly bumped against the reinforced hulls of his ship. Not wanting to risk any damage to the shuttle, Yuuno activated the ship's shields. Unfortunately, the protective element of the mana that now coated the shield dulled the responsiveness of the main sensors.

Thankfully, Yuuno had a solution for that. His eyes lost a bit of focus as he began to synchronize his magical abilities with the ship. Six green spheres of light were fired from the top of the shuttle. The area search spell rushed into the depths of the wreckage.

"Now, show me what happened..." He muttered. The spheres lightly danced through shredded hallways as they explored the depths of the ship. The little bit of environmental data that could be gleamed from within the ship didn't indicate that there were any arms fire within the ship.

'So what happened here? Why isn't there anyone inside?!'

Prodding by Yuuno's urgent question, the area search spheres hurried deeper into the large transport vessel.

Yuuno's attention shifted briefly away from the area search spell. The ship, with all the scattered pieces throughout the area, had finally reappeared back into the visible spectrum. At the same time as it fully finished appearing, an automatic pop up appeared on the ship's main display.

**Vessel, please make all necessary steps to conceal presence from [Unadministered World #97] immediately. Any attempts to circumvent the Time Space Bureau's law of noninterference will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.**

During the time he had been scanning the ship, both vessels had been drifting dangerously close to the planet nearby.

The main display was currently showing the entirety of the planet below.

"My, that's a handsome world." The boy briefly let himself admire the lush planet before him. "Hardly looks industrialized at all, though." He shook his head in slight distaste as he took one last look at the planet. "Deserves to be called by the name its natives gave it, though."

Sometimes he wished the Bureau was slightly less cold.

Yuuno put aside that thought as he activated the ship's spell boosters. Miniature launchers on the side of the ship powered up before spitting out their payload of sixty foot long stakes into the remaining hull of the destroyed transport vessel.

His shuttle's mana reactor hummed to life.

Moments later, the entire region of space they were in was under a cloaking barrier to keep the debris concealed as well.

"There..." He said with a sigh. "Now I just need to open a rip into the Dimensional Sea and the transport vessel will be safe until the Bureau comes to clean it up."

The shuttle's inboard computer beeped, drawing his attention away from his legally required task. Now that he had kept from being turned in to the Bureau by the ship's computer, he could finally focus on recovering the sealed Lost Logia.

A brief image, reported to him by an area search sphere, appeared on the main screen. It showed an image of the main engine room of the transport vessel. Covering the mana generator was a thick black tar. With a look of slight disgust, Yuuno guided the sphere closer to the material that was oozing out from within the power source of the ship.

"What is that?"

A secondary alert popped up, preventing Yuuno from beginning the scan on the material. Switching to another of the area search spheres, it showed the image of a ravaged looking storage room. Thick metal walls, seemingly melted in places, were able to be seen on the fringes of the sphere's sight. What was most important was the ten foot long by ten feet tall case that the sphere had discovered.

Yuuno urged the sphere to move towards the case, glad to see that it had managed to survive the explosion. Satisfaction turned into confusion as the artificial gravity within the transport vessel finally gave up. Confusion turned into horror as as the case, unrestrained by gravity, sprung open to reveal an empty interior.

An alarm, heralding his shuttle being viciously shaken by an unexpected attack, was just icing on the cake at this point.

The ship trembled again, nearly throwing Yuuno out of his chair if it hadn't been for the harness on his seat. Reaching towards his command console, he swiftly keyed in a command to launch eight self automated camera drones from the underbelly of his ship. Even as the ship's shields weakened due to the distribution of energy, the boy quickly got a complete view of his surroundings.

"Oh no...!"

An amorphous blob, only able to be distinguished by the rest of the void by the thick red outline around it and three shining blue lights in its core, slammed into the side of his ship again.

"The Jewel Seeds?!"

The displays beeped at him angrily as the lights dimmed with the exertion of maintaining shields against the creature. It began to fly back for another attempt at striking the ship, but Yuuno was already launching his ship through the rest of the debris field at full speed.

The creature's body swelled, form quivering erratically for a few moments. A burst of energy erupted out from the depths of its body, sending it flying after the shuttle.

"How can it do that?!" Yuuno demanded, twisting the shuttle out of the way of a large chunk of metal in his flight path. The ship's underside scrapped against the steel, causing the energy shield around the ship to flare.

The monster's aura flared moments before it slammed through the debris he had been forced to avoid. Alarms beeped as the scans on the monstrosity revealed a huge amount of energy spiking in its core. The unshielded material of the former transport vessel simply ceased to be as the blob continued rocketing towards him.

"Well, I'm certainly not going to let you try that ramming stunt again!" Yuuno's fingers danced along the command control as he readied his own attack. "I'm not going to let you get away with this!"

The only mana weapon on the ship, located on the top of the shuttle, spewed a blast of energy at the monster behind him. To Yuuno's dismay, the beam split before the vicious red aura around the amorous blob, sliding along its body like water as it flowed over it and away into the darkness of space.

"N-no way!"

The monster's aura briefly flickered. Large portions of its body were launched towards the escaping shuttle almost faster than the boy could react. Yuuno blindly slammed on the panel, channeling his own magic into the control system as he took control. Several of the pieces of the creature missed the ship as the boy's desperate dive avoided most of them, but his attempt to sweep around the flank of the beast were only rewarded with pain as five pieces slammed into the ship.

Yuuno cried out in sympathetic pain as he received an overflow of energy as the ship's systems went wild. The display in front of him flickered, even as it displayed the rapidly dwindling shield stability of the shuttle. The five pieces of the creature hadn't been idle all this time though, slowly spreading over the angrily flaring shield as they tried to invade. Forced to abandon direct mental control, Yuuno quickly resumed manual operation, swiveling the ship's weapon towards attacking the two pieces that were on the same plane as the mana laser.

Two quick blasts later and the slime had been removed, causing the pressure on the shield system to partially ease up. Unappreciative of the action, the blob continued to swell up as it kept chasing Yuuno's shuttle through a dizzying set of twists and turns. Yuuno, unable to handle seeing the night sky turn into a blur of stars and colors from the nearby planet, risked switching entirely to his sensors to guide him.

For the next three terrifying minutes, Yuuno was practically trembling in his seat. The loss of actual visual display wasn't that important as he had been dodging the attacks using the sensors already, but psychologically the boy couldn't care less. Sweat poured down his neck as his clammy hands danced along the panel. The display that had been showing him the night sky was now dominated by the secondary and tertiary screens that came up while in flight.

The second one, the mana sensors, showed a grainy image of space with the relative locations of the celestial bodies, the ship, and monster on it. Far in the distance were the ruins of the transport vessel, faintly glowing with energy.

"What? Did this thing attack it too?" Yuuno wondered, eyes widening as a thought came to mind. "This is my chance!"

With alarms ringing throughout the cockpit, the boy quickly guided the shuttle towards the cloud of metal. Weaving around the ridiculously overpowered attacks the creature was launching at him, Yuuno briefly took a moment to trigger the second bank of sensors.

A third screen came up, overlaying its information on the second display. Data on the beast and the attacks it was launching at the ship filled the outlines of theavailable space he had to work with on screen, but Yuuno made the most of it. With the extra information, he quickly came up with his plan as he finally entered the debris field.

With a swift ninety degree turn which sent him slamming into the side of his seat, Yuuno allowed the debris field around him to take several strikes from the monster. Simultaneously, the camera drones swept past the two of them as they had been attempting to catch up. Three of them in particular slammed into the blob, sinking into its frame.

Immediately, the beast froze. Unlike before, it didn't instantly vaporize the drones. Instead, the monster began to sap the energy of the drones.

"You've been trying get at the ship's mana generator all along!" He declared, now that he had spare cameras, he sent two of them away from combat. Switching on the primary screen using the information they were recording, he overlaid all the information that he had gathered on the monster up to this point.

The deadly aura it had used wasn't activated anymore.

"Well, have some mana, then!"

Yuuno fired the shuttle's cannon at the drones within the beast's body.

A massive fireball, generated by the pressurized mana inside the drones, erupted out of the beast. With the way the monster was thrashing around, Yuuno almost imagined its scream as pieces of its main body were torn off it by the force of the explosion.

The other three drones which were hovering at his ship's side were launched at the monster.

"Take all the mana you'd like!"

The creature, wising up to the attack, turned to flee. It was too slow to keep from being tagged by another drone, though. With another blast, more of the blob's mass was annihilated in another explosion of magic.

Two of the remaining four drones were remotely operated by Yuuno into scrapping along the sides of his shield. The stubborn ooze that had been clinging to the ship quivered before sliding onto the two camera drones. With another two blasts of the ship's weapon, they were annihilated as well.

The return of the shuttle's full power allowed the ship to pick up speed as it kept on the tail of the monster. Switching to remote feed, the two remaining camera drones speed up as they were linked back into the mana generator of the ship. With their full speed restored to them, they were able to zip ahead of the shuttle and towards the amorphous blob.

"I'm not letting you escape!" Yuuno promised, teeth gritted as he sacrificed the final two camera drones. Firing two blasts of energy into the retreating monster, the drones erupted into another set of explosions moments before the creature exited the barrier. Fortunately for Yuuno, the flash of energy from the destruction of the cameras was swiftly smothered by the empty void of space.

The fight hopefully hadn't drawn any attention in that split second.

Which meant that a tiny piece, only about an eighth of the size of the original monster, was left hovering in the darkness of space. Before he could bring down another attack on the creature, the three gemstones within it flared.

Yuuno shouted, bringing the cannon to bear, but the creature was already surrounded by its vicious red aura. No matter how many times he shot at the monster, it deflected them. Before the boy's frightened eyes, it began to rapidly regain its lost mass as the Jewel Seeds within the beast radiated power. Twisting in space, it began to rapidly fly away from Yuuno's ship.

Yuuno wordlessly exclaimed, slamming his hand into the control panel. His shuttle sped forwards as it continued to bombard the creature. His fears were confirmed as the computer planned out the monster's flight path would take it to Unadministered World 97. Terror gripped him at the thought of that thing consuming the world below.

"Mayday! Mayday!" Yuuno shouted, opening all signals to the Dimensional Sea as he chased down the comet. "This is Yuuno Scrya of the Scrya Clan. I have a Class One annihilation event, repeat! A Class One annihilation event!"

Knowing he was overheating the mana laser on the shuttle, the boy still continued to pelt the dome around the monster as his cloaked ship rushed after the beast.

"If there's anyone available, please- _please_ alert the Time Space Bureau about this." He begged as his hands flew over the controls, including his location in real space in the emergency broadcast. "The creature, currently posing a S-rank Lost Logia, has shown the ability to be able to feed off magic, increase its size and mass, and also annihilate matter on contact. I am uploading all the data I have gathered on the creature."

Yuuno paused.

"I will attempt to contain the creature. If I don't make it..." He nervously licked his lips. "Please tell my Clan I'm sorry."

The whirl of the mana generators grew deafening as he finished his work. The ship began to tremble with the removal of the safeties keeping the generator's production of mana in check; the engine spewing forth dangerous amounts of power and making the air inside the cabin grow hazy.

Impossibly, the ship's speed increased as a collision course with the monster was set.

Reaching for his harness, he swiftly undid the buckles holding him down. He swiveled the chair and jumped to his feet. The terrible thought of that monster eating the world below was more than enough to motivate him as he rushed out of the cabin and into his room. He ignored the few articles he had brought onto the ship with him.

Yuuno only had eyes for the Intelligence Device that hung on a clothing hook on the door leading to the bathroom.

"What is happening Master?" Raising Heart asked as he quickly tucked the gemstone into his pocket.

"I'm going to need your help." Yuuno began to explain. "We'll have an extinction event if we don't seal away a rampaging creature."

"I shall seal them, Master."

"Good."

Yuuno exited the bedroom and entered the last room on the ship. The transportation room had the floor dominated by a teleportation system that would hopefully get him down onto the world. Synchronizing with the ship one last time, he mentally commanded it to drop its shield and go for a ramming maneuver on the monster.

Feeling the ship furiously rattle as it slammed into the beast, Yuuno redirected as much magic as he could from the ship's generators, hoping to increase the range on his teleportation.

"At least one of us knows what they're doing." Yuuno shakily stated before he triggered the self destruct. With that, both Raising Heart and Yuuno Scrya were whisked to Unadministered World 97 moments before the entire ship went up a glorious blaze of magic.

- Scene Break -

The winds were intense as Yuuno and Raising Heart appeared in the skies above Unadminstered World 97. The boy's mantle nosily flapped behind him, adding to his momentary battle with confusion from the rushed teleportation. His Barrier Jacket's protection, surging with mana from his Linker Core, kept him reasonably warm and able to breath in spite of the altitude he was currently at.

However, the chill running along his bare legs reminded him he needed to update it to longer legged pants. Tomorrow, maybe.

"Incoming at twelve o'clock, Master."

With Raising Heart's warning, Yuuno glanced upwards. Much higher than they were, the shuttle and monster were streaking down towards the lands far below them. Moments later, his former ship went up in a dome of hellfire, sweeping past the crimson comet.

"Begin scanning, Raising Heart!"

"Yes, Master."

Yuuno began to calculate his personal teleportation spells. His green clad form zipped through the heavens as he treated real space as nothing more than stepping stones, bouncing in and out of reality in a series of short-range teleports.

"Attack has successfully destroyed ninety percent of the creature's mass, Master." Raising Heart announced. "Remains are falling to the following coordinates..."

"Things can never be easy, can they?" Yuuno asked, trembling a little at what that thing was able to do previously. "And now we don't have the shuttle."

"Do not be afraid, Master." Raising Heart soothed. "We shall simply shoot it."

With a silent nod, Yuuno pensively began to fly and teleport the rest of the way down to the ground below. His green eyes narrowed as he observed the lands below. From what he could see from his vantage point, the town that was rapidly growing in his sight had every sign of being inhabited.

Civilized even, considering the roads and buildings looked brand new.

But why did the world feel uninhabited?

"Raising Heart, do you access to this world's records?"

"Negative, Master. We do not possess clearance."

Yuuno's green eyes widened. Making a silent note to himself, the boy acknowledged it and continued his pursuit. It wouldn't matter what happened if that monster devoured everything in its rampage, now would it?

"Has the creature landed?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, give me the area." Yuuno prepared for another long range teleport. "We'll strike hit hard when we arrive. Get sealing mode prepared."

"Yes, Master."

Some mysteries would just have to be put off until the monster was dealt with.

- Scene Break -

The abominable creature came crashing into the center of a lake just moments after Yuuno arrived in a flash of light. The water foamed and evaporated from the heat of reentry; generating enough force to create a mighty back draft of wind.

Dirt flew in the air along with a few unfortunate trees, blinding Yuuno even as he raised a barrier to protect himself.

That moment of vulnerability cost him as the monster struck.

Hard.

The blond let out a cry of pain as his barrier was shattered. The six tendrils that had pierced the field surged forwards through his best protection like a knife through wet tissue. The limbs, glowing faintly with biolumniscience, crashed into his barrier jacket.

Yuuno screamed as one of his arms tried to rise to protect him, only to come back burning with a faint brush with the monster's tentacles. The monster pinned him down to the ground, rapidly wailing at him with loud cracking blows in a steady beat. His vision began to tunnel as he saw the main body of the monster surge towards him.

'Is this it?' He wondered as he grit his teeth. 'No! I can't die yet!'

Gathering magic in his hands, the blond desperately tried to fight back. His arms slammed into the tentacles as he tried to frantically pull away from the monster. Their exchange of blows were brief - it wrapped another tendril around his bare leg.

Yuuno didn't even have time to scream as it swung him upwards. His eyes widened as the monster's tendril whipped him head first towards a tree.

'Someone, anyone, help!' He mentally screamed with all his might.

Darkness suddenly came to him.

- Scene Break -

'-someone, anyone, help!'

Nanoha Takamachi jerked to a stop, letting Arisa Bannings and Suzuka Tsukimura walk ahead of her. Both of them glanced around dazedly as well, even as the brunette's entire body shook from the force of the scream.

"Someone just broke into the network?"

"What a disgusting prank. Sending an emergency signal on the main channel? How stu-hey, where are you going, Nanoha?!"

Nanoha didn't even spare her two friends a backwards glance.

'It isn't a gag, someone is seriously in trouble!' She threw her words back at the two of them as she pushed past a bush to enter the path to the lake side.

'Wait, then why are you running towards danger!' Arisa's voice snarled through the girl's private communications channel. Behind Nanoha, she could hear the two girls shouting for her to come back, even as she heard the crashing noises behind her.

The blonde was following.

'It was strong enough for it to break through security, and... and something about it...'

'I've signaled the closest unit to restrain whatever monster appeared.' Suzuka's voice was calm, but had an undertone of worry as she continued. 'Both of you - stay safe! I'm going to patch through to you both now.'

Nanoha accepted Suzuka's aid without question.

The nearby trees lit up to her eyes as she felt Suzuka's presence start guiding her through the woods. Her eyes swept from side to side as Nanoha tried to find whatever plant or animal had gained enough magic to run wild this time.

'Nanoha, up front!' Arisa's voice advised.

The girl glanced ahead, gasping as she stared at the impossibility before her. Nanoha heard the gasp of shock over her communication line from Suzuka. The area around the lake was absolutely devastated, drained of all of its ambient mana.

Worse still was the creature before them.

Nanoha came to a stop as she saw the collection of ooze leech away at the life around it, an eddy as the energy swirled around it.

'That beast is way outside our ballpark, Nanoha...'

'Doesn't matter.' She answered Arisa with a calm expression. 'Look at what I'm seeing.'

Arisa did so, borrowing Nanoha's sight as both girls saw the figure that was lying motionless below the beast. Nanoha felt Arisa's brief spike of anger for a moment before she disconnected from her. For once, both girls shared the same opinion.

'It's trying to eat him?'

Nanoha silently rolled the right sleeve of her school uniform up as the blonde finally caught up her.

'Not for long.' Nanoha thought as she glanced at Arisa. 'Keep it contained, alright?' She asked her friend with a gentle smile.

'Why me?' Arisa simply tore the sleeves of her own uniform off. Her fingers were gaining a sharp edge to them.

'You got there last.' Suzuka chimed in with a sigh. 'The closest group is about three miles away. They should be getting there in about a minute. Think you'll be alright?'

Nanoha stepped forwards, ignoring the snap of a twig beneath her feet.

The ooze, which had nearly swept its way up the blond boy's chest, froze in place.

"I'll be fine." Nanoha finally spoke out, hoping to draw the monster's attention.

The monster, taking umbrage with those words, twisted and flung the majority of its mass at the steadily approaching girl.

"I was feeling hungry anyway."

- Scene Break -

Yuuno's ears rang as the boy felt himself return to the land of the living. A high pitched scream, which had been what had forced him awake, continued in the background. The boy winced as his headache pulsed behind his eyes.

'Where am I...?' He numbly looked in the direction of the scream. 'Did the...oh no!'

The boy tried to force himself up as he saw his target throw itself at a slim brunette - who was strangely missing one sleeve. Despite his lungs protesting the action, he tried to shrug off the copious amounts of slime that were covering him from below his chest.

"Run away!" His voice was raw, the shout of a child that was terrified by seeing someone else get hurt. The boy managed to wrench an arm out of the slime. His attempt at diverting the beast with a shooting spell came too late, though.

The girl looked surprised, body freezing as she glanced at him, ignoring the slime that descended on top of her.

"No!" Yuuno angrily screamed as the beast slammed the newcomer down into the ground. The girl's form was lost beneath the bulky creature as it began to energetically throb on top of her.

His breath escaped him in ragged gasps as tears flowed down his eyes.

"Hey!" A new voice shouted at Yuuno. He blinked his eyes rapidly to be able to see the blonde that was standing on the opposite side of the clearing. "Why are you being a brat about this? Now Nanoha got her dress all dirty thanks to you."

Yuuno stared at the nonchalant way the blonde was acting.

"Get away!" The boy struggled. "Your friend...your friend isn't just going to get a dirty dress!"

The blonde scoffed.

"You're a weird boy." She shook her head. "But I'll just blame the beating that thing must've given you." The girl pointed at the mass on the ground. "That's Nanoha **Takamachi**."

A vicious looking blade slid out of the monster - shining against the tar coating it.

"What?" Yuuno's voice was clipped.

The monster's undulations stopped as the beast froze in place. The aura that had plagued Yuuno during their dogfight in space simply evaporated.

"Like an overgrown slime can stop someone from that family."

The blade split into two before the boy's eyes, transforming into a set of giant cutters. They began to spread apart, widening the wound that the blade created. Both fair haired children winced as the monster began to shriek in agony.

Its protests were silenced by a second blade.

Yuuno stared as the monster collapsed; its solid form simply caved in on itself. The material that had bound Yuuno also lost its own cohesion as it melted away like a bad dream. The sludge splashed onto the ground, joining the rapidly expanding pool of the material that had been pinning Nanoha down.

"That was tasty." Nanoha Takamachi stated in a easy going voice as she sat up. Only her brilliant smile, showing off white teeth, and a pair of metallic devices jutting out where her arms should been shone in contrast to the black ooze that was covering her from head to toe.

"He thought you were in trouble." The blonde girl shook her head. "What an amateur."

Yuuno remained silent as he stared at Nanoha, watching her metallic limbs smoothly pull back into her body. The metal warped as they took on the hue and shape of human arms, which the girl used to get back onto her feet.

"Don't be mean, Arisa." Nanoha sounded annoyed. "He fought as well as he could." She turned to face him with the same bright smile, reaching up to wipe the tar off her face with her human arm. Where it made contact with the ooze, it simply melted the material away into black smoke. "Hello there!" Two bright eyes shone at the stunned archaeologist. "I'm Nanoha Takamachi, thank you for your earlier kindness!"

And to Yuuno's amazement, the girl bowed.

Yuuno stammered, wincing as his ribs began to ache as he tried to gesture at Nanoha. A large dollop of black goo fell off the tip of a pigtail and landed on her cheek, sliding down towards her lips.

"Eh?" The girl glanced at him, remaining bowed. "Oh, the monster?" The side of her eyes crinkled as she looked at him and then at the slime. Her tongue shot out and licked at it, lips quirking upward into a smile. "It was very delicious, thanks for asking!"

Yuuno's eyes bugged out.

"Meh, vegetarians." Arisa rolled her eyes. "Can't ever let us have nice things."


	2. Chapter 2

02/Here and Now, Then and There

Yuuno woke up with a start, and the evening sun had given way to a morning light filtering through the windows of the room he found himself resting at. His checks flushed in shame as he took in his surroundings, remembering the last moments before darkness had claimed him.

Currently, he was on a somewhat lumpy bed, thin covers clinging to him, and it looked like he was in some sort of clinic. The archaeologist looked away from the skeleton he had focused on, and looked past his immediate surroundings.

He tightened his grip on his covers.

At least he hoped he was at a clinic.

On the other side of it was a gentle looking woman, who was wearing an off white coat over a somewhat frilly blouse and long skirt.

"Hello. My name is Sachie Ishida. I run the local clinic." The woman anxiously smiled towards him, maybe trying to convince him she wasn't a ravenous beast. "Miss Takamachi brought you here after you fought that strange creature." Unlike the girl that had consum- no, saved his life. The girl had saved his life, just in a strange way. "And - uh, you were very brave. T-thank you for buying time for us. I think-think..."

Yuuno stared as the woman turned more and more self conscious before his silence, still feeling wholly out of his depth.

"M-may I?" The woman asked, looking somewhat ill at ease as the silence was prolonged between both parties. Simultaneously, he felt a careful prod up against the protective barriers in his mind. "Would, uh, i-is that okay with you?"

"Uh, are you okay?" He quietly and, most importantly, politely asked.

Miss Ishida looked even more uncomfortable.

Yuuno didn't flinch, expecting a mental prompt a moment later, asking to speak to him telepathically. He was sure it couldn't possibly be an attack; it was entirely too awkward of an attempt to communicate. As it was, it felt like something an elementary student back home would try when they first learned how to broadcast their thoughts.

"That's... fine. Go ahead." The boy wondered if there was something wrong with this planet. The devour- the girl, Takamachi, she and her friends had been able to speak to him without any problems.

'Thank you. I apologize, my vocal chords suffered some damage in that raid a while ago. I'd take care of it at the hospital, but I just haven't had the time. What a model of health consciousness, huh? I'm sorry for rambling.'

Yuuno stared at her, expression gaunt. The doctor's words, taken on their own merit, were innocuous enough. Maybe presented in an amusingly childish fashion, from his point of view, since it had been a while since he had been exposed to such a free flow of thinking from another person this way.

However...

Sachie Ishida spoke with the voice of hundreds, a cacophony of whispers that weren't her own tumbling from the cracks between her thoughts. Like a babbling stream during summer, they playfully splashed around everywhere.

They were met by a rigid barrier that had been hastily, somewhat fearfully, erected around Yuuno's mind.

'What is it? You can trust me, are you from out of town?' The doctor leaned towards him, reaching out towards his forwards. She froze in place when she saw the look on Yuuno's face. 'Is there something ...wrong?'

'What isn't?'

She flinched and retreated when she received his answer. Yuuno Scrya's voice, completely devoid of companions, echoed mournfully in the silence.

* * *

><p>Nanoha Takamachi woke up with a stomachache that morning, but she refused to let it get her down. They morning was cool, there hadn't been any attacks from any of the local hives, and they were going to go solve a mystery.<p>

'Why didn't you warn me, Nana? Now I feel bad too!' On the other hand, Arisa's day was much easier to ruin. The blonde slip clung onto their third friend, who only showed amusement at the girl's clinginess. 'Don't give me that look, Suzu. We don't have your freakish pain threshold! Now I gotta deal with this all day.'

'I'll make sure to take it up with the elders when we next commune.'

Nanoha hid her giggle reasonably well, but the attitude was easily caught on a passing teenager girl. She flashed the trio of apprentices a smile, and threw in their own two cents when the brunette goodnaturedly revealed their situation.

"You should always ask." The girl - Rena Matsushita, chided Arisa outloud, unwilling to have her personal network in on the conversation. At least not without asking for permission first, and she already knew from Nanoha that they were going to visit a sick friend of theirs. No reason to hold the three up too long. "Sharing sensations is deeply personal."

Rena was proud of that line, it sounded almost big sisterly.

"It's okay." Arisa stubbornly replied, not letting go of Suzuka as they walked past her. There wasn't a reason to really slow down, since they could keep it up if they moved over each other's hearing range. "I'm going to marry Nanoha."

"Arisa!" Nanoha laughed, sounding delightfully scandalized. "You can't say you love me unless you can handle a bellyache."

"Not fair!"

The brunette and blonde gave cheerful farewells to the girl, their voices already pretty faint.

'You'd be a fine big sister. You should ask your Elders if they'd allow you to have a sister.'

Suzuka gave her own opinion, startling Rena as the thought came through to her a minute later, well after both parties had moved a block away from each other. An apology followed for surprising her, the intent clear through the network. The dark haired girl must be a prodigy.

'Sorry, I'm a sensor.'

Ah, that explained the girl's quiet attitude.

'Sometimes, I lag behind too.' Rena understood, sympathizing with Suzuka. She fired a question back. 'So, why a sister?'

'They're cuter.' Suzuka paused. 'Plus, it's less work if they want to be your little brother later, too.'

Rena laughed.

The strength of the communication with Suzuka began to fade, making the teenager realize that the trio were practically at the door of the clinic. It was one of the few places that controlled the free flow of information, muffling everyone's voices substantially.

Must be nice to be close enough a friend they'd allow you to visit them in such a place.

Rena was about to thank little Suzuka and let her go, but that's when she heard the alarm in Suzuka's voice; followed by the silent, rich sensation of fear radiating from the girl. Had something happened at the clinic? Concerned, the teenager quickly reached the local hunter's office.

'Shirou Takamachi here.' That name, was it just a coincidence? 'Is there a problem I can help you with, citizen?'

A wealth of information, freely provided by the state, on the head of the local chapter of the hunters flowed into Rena's mind. She processed it in the blink of an eye, and then immediately made the connection when she consciously drew on the family record.

He was Nanoha's father. No wonder her call had been directed to him.

The sudden focus on the man's records immediately caused him to tense, but Rena quickly revealed her personal information to ease his concern.

"I talked to your daughter and her friends. They might be in trouble..." Rena began to rattle off what she knew, handing over her memories from the last few minutes, and the reason she had to call.

Shirou Takamachi was out of his office moments later.

The hunter's network, realizing the nature of this situation, immediately sent another request. Another agent from a closer location moved towards the clinic to support Shirou.

* * *

><p>Yuuno was confused. The area's mana had shifted moments after the doctor had politely, if fearfully, asked him to stay where he was. It was like a tidal wave pulling itself away from the beach. The only reason the archaeologist remained sitting in place was because he could feel the mana in the air, rich and ready to be used for the teleportation spell he had primed inside his mind.<p>

'What was that, though?' He thought, remembering the frightening brush against the doctor's thoughts. It felt like he had been dumped into one of his tribe's rare ceremonies, free telepathic dialogue between large sections of the clan.

Yuuno had been on the home world when that had happened. It had just been countless voices scrambling over each other to be heard, only kept in check by the Elders. He wasn't sure if it was one of the more painful experiences he had suffered, damaging his spine that one time during a dig was almost as bad, but it was easily the most embarrassing.

That ceremony, intended to bind his clan together, and this casual conversation had been worlds apart.

No one in Yuuno's clan, not even the most pro-unity Elder, had ever dared to suggest that they blend emotions together during those ceremonies. It was an unnatural thing, leading to a frightening blending of minds until someone inevitably forced their mental barriers up. Something that'd probably be done within moments that some fool tried it, the heart hid terrible secrets for a reason.

Still, Yuuno was an archaeologist for a reason, and it wasn't because he didn't want to understand cultures. So for now the boy would wait here, at least until he saw them do something that showed they were a threat. If they were, he'd simply escape to his ship; they didn't seem to have any abilities that could stop him.

He still had to meet that monster-girl, and find out what happened to the Jewel Seeds.

Yuuno considered. Then began to weave together a protective spell. Just in case they surprised him.

* * *

><p>Nanoha grimaced, lightly resting her hand against her chest when she felt heat blossom within. What was wrong with her? That slime wasn't tough at all; in fact, it was the easiest thing she had to kill. Their exams had tougher monsters and those were training exercises!<p>

The brunette quickly pulled her hand away when she got Arisa's attention; unfortunately, Nanoha had been unable to buffer the sensation in time. Their conversation, for lack of a better term when Arisa was involved - there was usually lots of shouting involved - was forestalled as they arrived at the clinic.

Sachie Ishida didn't quite race out of the clinic, but the way the door slammed open very much implied she would have run out of the area if she had her way.

"Doctor Ishida!" Arisa began, with a smile. "We came to check up-" Her words trailed off and her smile vanished as a mass of fear and concern coming from Sachie bombarded her and her friends.

This also made Nanoha's attempt to happily wave stop in place, her arm falling to her side.

Suzuka froze up into a contemplative silence as she considered the source of the confusion radiating from Sachie.

Sachie, looking disheveled, swept her gaze across the three girls before focusing on Suzuka.

"Th-here's b-been a me-medic-al emergency." She calmly, but swiftly began. What was strange, and offsetting to the girls, was that the doctor was completely shielding her thoughts from the moment she saw them. "Foll-ow me, please."

Not even pausing in her speech, she squatted down, caught the dark haired girl with her shoulder, lifted, and carried her away in a smooth motion that managed to preserve her forward momentum.

Nanoha and Arisa could only watch in shock as the doctor made off with their friend.

"W-what about the boy?" Nanoha called out, almost dumbly.

A silent order from the doctor answered, sent towards the clinic, to block off all communications.

Their sensor friend, typically the slowest of the three girls to react, finally screamed in shock, snapping out of her usual trance to kick and squirm on Sachie's shoulders as she processed the last minute of action outside of her head in the span of a moment of attention.

Suzuka's emotional shout jarred Arisa out of her trance, and the blonde found herself instinctively rushing after her friend and the doctor, more concerned for the dark haired girl than anything the doctor had said.

Nanoha's reaction was different: despite the urgent prompts from Arisa to 'move, move, move!' towards Suzuka, she ignored it and found herself turning towards the clinic doors. The 'lock down' on the building had been purely for the network, sapping the warmth of humanity from within.

But what about the boy that had been inside?

He'd be alone with his thoughts.

The girl knew that people died of loneliness.

She almost had.

Nanoha's sudden decision causedat least three people, not including the ones directly linked to her, to shift their sudden attention on her.

'Sorry!' Nanoha chirped, hiding the undercurrent of terror. She made up her mind.

'STOP! You can't go in there!' Arisa shouted, causing Nanoha to pause for half a moment. The blonde had always known Nanoha the best, and that's why they were the best of friends. Yet Arisa was too far away to stop her, standing over by Sachie and Suzuka.

Shouts and warnings, coming from people far less important to the brunette than Arisa, followed Nanoha into the building as she raced towards the entrance. The girl ignored them as she willingly plunged past the threshold of the clinic. Her head felt like it was dumped in a bucket of ice cold water, which swept down through her spine and into her limbs as she bulled through.

"Ah," Nanoha's breath came out with a shiver as she froze halfway in the entrance hall. This was nostalgic.

Behind her, she could see Arisa, Sachie, and Suzuka staring at her in shock. Incomprehension kept them from calling out towards Nanoha - at least verbally. Their voices couldn't reach her so long as she was inside the building.

Nanoha turned away from the hurt and betrayal in Arisa's eyes, unwilling to see the look in her best friend's eyes as she slinked deeper into the clinic.

A tingling sensation racing throughout her body followed her, flashes of heat and chilling cold batting at her body and mind. Nanoha had lost something precious again, and once again by her own hand.

* * *

><p>Nanoha's breath escaped in ragged gasps.<p>

One step.

She had really taken it for granted, hadn't she?

Two steps.

Companionship. Friends. Family.

Steps became strides.

A steady stream of warmth, people she could turn to whenever she needed. People she knew were what kept her from dying.

Stumbling into the wall.

She remembered the hospital, and the cold, steady beeping of the machines. Her father's scream when he had nearly gone silent forever. Too far from the Elders, unable to save him.

Rest here, just for a moment.

Ripping into her very self to escape the shouts and fear and pain and-

Stand up. Had to help the boy. Get moving again.

* * *

><p>Yuuno started when he heard heavy footsteps approach his room. They stopped, followed by a heavy thump from the wall. Tensing up, the blond moved off his bed and towards the door.<p>

"Hello? Are you alright?" He winced, not liking how shaky he sounded.

"That's my question." The response, sounding slurred and disoriented, blew away his cautious air. Yuuno quickly stepped out in the hallway, and was surprised as he glanced down to see the brunette from last night slumped up against the wall outside his door.

She looked frightfully pale, a shadow of her former self. This girl looked like she was at death's door, so unlike the triumphant beast Yuuno had been picturing on and off since their last encounter.

"Hey, are you-?"

Yuuno quickly knelt down towards the sweating girl, reaching towards her. The girl instinctively grabbed his hand, tightly holding on while leveling herself up to her feet. She looked a mess, hair sloppily strewn about, and her breath growing wild.

She looked ectastic at seeing him stand on his own, making him wonder what was going on.

"I'm Nanoha." Nanoha flashed him a tight, pained smile. She weakly tugged on his arm, almost like she thought she could pull him along. What a bossy girl. "Lets get you out of here. Please follow me."

Well, it seemed more like she was letting him lead, weakly tugging him as the two children moved through the hallway.

"I'm Yuuno." He dumbly replied, trying to get caught up to what was going on. Nanoha gave him a watery smile, looking grateful from some reason. "Where's the doctor?" She obviously needed it more than he did, making him take cautionary glances into the side rooms, which were all empty.

"Doctor Ishida..." Nanoha puffed out a breath, making him freeze up in concern. He finally moved when she took a normal breath, tugging him forwards. "Is outside right now. Something dangerous must be here."

"Dangerous?"

"She..." Nanoha wheezed, causing him to wince. "Cut off the network. I have to get you out." Her teeth chattered.

That sounded dangerous to Yuuno, especially with how the girl was suffering in front of him.

They arrived at the entrance of the clinic, the door outside was just ahead. By this point, there were already cars parked up front. Nanoha turned to address him, body jerking in his arms, and gave him a sleepy smile.

"You'll be safe now," The brunette sighed, almost like if she had been in a dream all this time. Maybe she had, considering how very little she was actually reacting to him. She raised a hand, patting Yuuno on the cheek. "I'm sorry Arisa treated you badly."

She fell, dragging the boy down with her. Shouts rang up from the front, meaningless noise to Yuuno.

Magic flowed from his linker core; he reached out for her, groaning in agony. Yuuno wasn't able to stop the energy - a series of triangular marks, glowing a rich purple beneath the skin on her neck, responded to his unspoken will.

Light flared, blinding yuuno and consuming their figures.

* * *

><p>Arisa screamed when the light vanished and she saw Nanoha collapse; running towards her alongside Nanoha's recently arrived father.<p>

The cold burning of the network's absence was brief, making them flinch in pain, but the sensation quickly returned now that Shirou Takamachi's presence forced everyone's voices to return.

She went for Nanoha, throwing herself at her best friend. At the moment, Arisa realized that the brunette was warm.

She wasn't dead.

She was silent.

But she really wasn't dead.

Not dead, not dead, not dead, not dead.

The stranger that was staring at her and Nanoha was pulled aside by Shirou. The telepathic command coming from the older man, to keep watch on his daughter, was wholeheartedly accepted.

Arisa allowed herself to cry, clutching at Nanoha's uniform. The blonde tried to bury her face into Nanoha's chest. The steady beat of her heart could barely be caught by her senses, reassuring the blonde while the world went to hell around her.

* * *

><p>A young girl in a bright blue dress with short curly hair sat by herself in a massive room. The walls stretched towards the horizon, never ending. The ceiling rose high above, being lost in thick mist.<p>

Such sights didn't phase the girl, since she knew she had to wait where she sat.

Towering figures moved around her, shadowy giants that faded in and out of sight, but their voices could always be heard in her heart.

Her daddy was coming back soon, after all.

A pair of figures strode into sight, making her look up.

One of them - a thin and reedy outline, placed a comforting hand on the stocky fellow. The taller one silently shook his head, making the stocky one glance down, trembling as he shrugged free of the taller figure's grasp. He rushed out into the mist, gaze focused downwards.

The remaining man gave a mournful glance after him, and walked off in a different direction.

The girl focused on her dress, neck sore from looking upwards so much. She took out a small lollipop, given to her by her mommy, and eagerly unwrapped it. It was given to her because she never made a fuss while she waited, and she thought it was time to finally taste her gift.

To her surprise, her lollipop vanished just when she was about to lick it!

The girl anxiously looked around, and was greeted by the sight of another child like her! This one wore no bright blue dress, though. He had short hair, and was almost as featureless as the giants, with the exception of a large cap on the top of his head.

The shadowy boy eagerly pointed into the mist, directing the girl's attention with the stolen lollipop. A figure that somewhat resembled the girl, was sitting down on a large bed. Other figures were surrounding her, spinning and almost dancing in place when the woman placed a hand on her swollen midsection.

The girl turned towards the boy, who thumbed at himself, and wished him happiness.

He vanished, taking her lollipop with him.

She hoped he liked the flavor.

The girl kept waiting. While she waited, she tried to play games to make the time pass. She went through everything she knew.

Knock knock jokes grew stale.

(Knock knock. Who's there? Giants. Giants who? Giant you, that's who.)

She wasn't very good at knock knocks.

I Spy was monontous.

(The answer was always mist.)

Eventually the only things left to do were to move around, but the girl had promised her family she would not leave her seat. The girl was a very serious person - even at that age, so she could only stare into the mist.

And stare.

And stare.

The giants began to blur together.

Starestarestarestarestarestarestarestarestarestare-

A slim, reedy giant punched a stocky man. A girl-like giant ran away, leaving behind another girl in a dress like Nanoha. A bed was carted along, with a limb falling behind.

-starestarestarestarestarestarestarestare-

Her head hurt.

Life.

The girl clutched at her chest, leaning forwards.

Love.

A figure moved out of the mist towards her.

Fear.

She fell out of her seat, causing the mists to part.

Death.

The girl shattered when she landed, breaking apart into a million pieces.

-and countless, countless, countless, countlesscountlescountlesss voices took those pieces and ran with them, taking out everything that made the girl 'her' and scooping it out and hurting and dying and laughing and

and

"Nanoha!"

Where...?

"Nanoha!" Her mommy lifted her head up, but it was just so hard to think. Doctors and nurses and screaming vied for her attention.

"Dad-" The girl gurgled, redness seeping out of her eye and tinting the sterile world.

Even as she was taken away.

It was finally quiet.

* * *

><p>Yuuno sat before Nanoha Takamachi's father. The man's face was stern, gazing at him impassively.<p>

'Who are you? What are you?' There was a sea of accusations behind the man's telepathic prompt. An equal amount of calls for patience, though.

Sobbing from two girls could be heard as he saw Nanoha get loaded onto a stretcher.

She would be alright. Maybe.

The Jewel Seeds had answered his wish to 'heal her'.

'I'm not from this planet. I've caused you nothing but trouble, I'm sorry.' Yuuno answered, without the voice of others to support him. He was honest, because he had to make sure Nanoha was alright. Had to, after what he had briefly seen in her mind.

What kind of world was this? Why had these people developed this way?

'Can you help her?' Nanoha's father caught onto his worry. His concern as a father overriding the jeering faction from the others. Maybe they had decided as a whole what his fate would be with his next answer.

'I might.' Yuuno replied. He paused, and continued. 'I will.'

"I'm Shirou Takamachi."

"Yuuno Scrya."

"She's going to be taken to the hospital at Sixth." Shirou held out a hand towards Yuuno, and the boy reached out and took it. The boy was reminded of how Nanoha had done the same.

"Let's go."

* * *

><p>A holographic projection lit up, showing several distinct mana trails heading down to a blueish green planet far below, and a step to the left of reality.<p>

It looked like someone had already arrived at Unadministered World 97.

No matter, they'd get crushed in the end. The weapons had been created for such purposes, after all.

Kneeling immediately in front of the screen was a blonde haired girl dressed primarily in black. To her side was a familiar, an animal in the shape of a red haired woman. Their combined magical signature was impressive.

Anything they'd meet would be hard pressed to defeat them.

Much less defeat her. The girls were like gnats before her. Especially here, in the heart of her influence.

"Fate," The girl looked up, wincing at the cold disregard in the speaker's eyes. "Go down there and retrieve them."

"Yes." Fate looked like she wished to say more, but held her tongue. She turned towards the bristling animal at her side, kindly speaking something to her in soft tones. Whatever she told the animal calmed her.

Pathetic.

However, that did bring something to her attention.

"Don't let anything get in your way."

"Mother?"

"Go!"

The hint of watering around Fate's eyes didn't move her. They were gone from her sight a moments after.


End file.
